At the onset of the twenty-first
century, humanity stands on the verge of the most transforming and
the most thrilling period in its history. It will be an era in which
the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched
and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic
legacy and achieves inconceivable heights of intelligence, material
progress, and longevity.

For over three decades, the great inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil
has been one of the most respected and provocative advocates of
the role of technology in our future. In his classic The Age
of Spiritual Machines, he presented the daring argument that
with the ever-accelerating rate of technological change, computers
would rival the full range of human intelligence at its best. Now,
in The Singularity Is Near, he examines the next step in
this inexorable evolutionary process: the union of human and machine,
in which the knowledge and skills embedded in our brains will be
combined with the vastly greater capacity, speed, and knowledge-sharing
ability of our own creations.

That merging is the essence of the Singularity, an era in which
our intelligence will become increasingly nonbiological and trillions
of times more powerful than it is today—the dawning of a new
civilization that will enable us to transcend our biological limitations
and amplify our creativity. In this new world, there will be no
clear distinction between human and machine, real reality and virtual
reality. We will be able to assume different bodies and take on
a range of personae at will. In practical terms, human aging and
illness will be reversed; pollution will be stopped; world hunger
and poverty will be solved. Nanotechnology will make it possible
to create virtually any physical product using inexpensive information
processes and will ultimately turn even death into a soluble problem.

While the social and philosophical ramifications of these changes
will be profound, and the threats they pose considerable, The
Singularity Is Near maintains a radically optimistic view of
the future course of human development. As such, it offers a view
of the coming age that is both a dramatic culmination of centuries
of technological ingenuity and a genuinely inspiring vision of our
ultimate destiny.

“Ray
Kurzweil is the best person I know at predicting the future
of artificial intelligence. His intriguing new book envisions
a future in which information technologies have advanced so
far and fast that they enable humanity to transcend its biological
limitations—transforming our lives in ways we can’t
yet imagine.”
–Bill Gates

“A
brilliant book with deep insights into the future from one of
the leading futurists of our time.”
–Marvin Minsky, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts
and Sciences, MIT

“If
you have ever wondered about the nature and impact of the next
profound discontinuities that will fundamentally change the
way we live, work, and perceive our world, read this book. Kurzweil’s
Singularity is a tour de force, imagining the unimaginable and
eloquently exploring the coming disruptive events that will
alter our fundamental perspectives as significantly as did electricity
and the computer.
–Dean Kamen, physicist and inventor of the first
wearable insulin pump, the HomeChoice portable dialysis machine,
the IBOT Mobility System, and the Segway Human Transporter;
recipient of the National Medal of Technology

“One
of our leading AI practitioners, Ray Kurzweil, has once again
created a ‘must-read’ book for anyone interested
in the future of science, the social impact of technology, and
indeed the future of our species. His thought-provoking book
envisages a future in which we transcend our biological limitations,
while making a compelling case that a human civilization with
superhuman capabilities is closer at hand than most people realize.”
–Raj Reddy, founding director, Robotics Institute,
Carnegie Mellon University;
recipient of the Turing Award from the Association for Computing
Machinery

“Ray’s
optimistic book well merits both reading and thoughtful response.
For those like myself whose views differ from Ray’s
on the balance of promise and peril, The Singularity Is Near
is a clear call for continuing dialogue to address the greater
concerns arising from these accelerating possibilities.”
–Bill Joy, cofounder and former chief scientist,
Sun Microsystems